After less than 24 hours on the internet, www.banbali.com, (which I linked to yesterday) a website lobbying for the Indonesian Government to introduce the "Unconditional Presidential Pardons" into law, has been shut down by the owners despite having tens of thousands of hits in a day, most supportive, whilst others were not so supportive!

The hackers were probably Indonesian, which is no surprise.

What is surprising, however, is that the hackers managed to stay online long enough to do it. I have a dial-up connection and for the past week have had great difficulty in searching for websites for your edification. There's no broadband service in my area; we're literally on the wrong side of the tracks.

Even if we were, the service wouldn't be any better according to a well-connected friend who subscribes to a Telkom service.

This neatly fitted the scenario of recently re-issued travel warnings from Western embassies. I received the following from the British Embassy on Friday, the day before: Indonesian police are on a high state of alert following reports of a planned suicide bombing attack in Jakarta. Buildings with foreign connections have been mentioned as possible targets.

Five arrests have been made. And who are they?

According to Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mohammad Sholeh Hidayat, two of the men, both former government officials in Poso, should be serving prison sentences for corruption. They were convicted of embezzling Rp 2.3 billion (US$242,105) in funds meant for refugees affected by three years of sectarian fighting in Poso.

Three other people, Makkasau, Laparigi and Ali were taken from their prison cells for questioning over the bombing. They had all been all convicted of corruption in the same refugee fund scandal.

Vice President Josef Kalla unsurprisingly doesn't agree. He is from Sulawesi."Those involved in corruption do not kill people to divert attention. They usually run away or flee abroad. That is their nature. I think it is illogical to say this attack was for their own benefit."

Please don't assume that Jakartass is having a dig at the V.P. He does want the big corruptors caught after all (it says here).